Mortgage
March 19, 2008
Closing Bell: Architect of Subprime Crisis Dies
Roland E. Arnall, the founder of the Ameriquest Mortgage Company, died earlier this week. Arnall, whose personal fortune was pegged at $1.5 billion by Forbes last year, was a top donor to the Republican party and was named the U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands in '06. Ameriquest, which went out of business last August, was one of the largest subprime lenders in the country and was the target of dozens of lawsuits over its allegedly deceptive lending practices. Arnall was 68.
Roland Arnall, Mortgage Innovator, Dies at 68 [NY Times]
March 10, 2008
Fannie Mae Supersizes You
Last week Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made it easier for buyers in high-priced areas like New York to get big loans or re-fi their existing ones. Limits for federally backed loans in 70 counties across the U.S. have now been raised to $729,750, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. The move is supposed to encourage lenders to to drop rates on jumbo loans (those over $417,000), which have soared above smaller loan amounts in the wake of the credit crunch. The loan-limit increase, however, will be short-lived: It's set to expire at the end of this year. Still, this should do more to prop up the economy than tax rebate checks.
Fannie, Freddie Loan Limits Raised [WSJ]
Photo by *andrew.